This is an archive article published on May 4, 2024
Arvinder Singh Lovely back in BJP, days after resigning as Delhi Congress chief
Lovely resigned as the Delhi Congress president on April 28 in protest against the party’s alliance with INDIA bloc partner AAP and over selection of party candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
Days after he stepped down as the Delhi Congress president in protest against the party’s alliance with INDIA bloc partner AAP and over selection of party candidates, Arvinder Singh Lovely joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday.
He, along with four former Congress leaders, joined the BJP in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The four others who joined the party include former Congress MLAs who had recently left the party — Rajkumar Chauhan, Neeraj Basoya, Naseeb Singh — and Delhi youth Congress chief Amit Malik.
Speaking to reporters after joining the saffron party, Lovely said he met his supporters and several Congress workers following his resignation, who urged him “not to sit at home but join a strong party to fight for the people of Delhi.”
Earlier Lovely had made it clear that he has only quit the party post and not the party, although a section of the Congress leadership as well as AAP leaders believed that he would be joining the BJP again.
Lovely’s resignation on April 28 was a setback to the party in terms of optics and perception. Coming four days after former Delhi minister Rajkumar Chauhan quit the party, the resignation of Lovely, who has been heading the Delhi unit since August last year, has been a blow to the Congress’s efforts for the May 25 elections in Delhi.
Following the announcement of the resignation, AAP minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has taken to X (formerly Twitter) to allude to alleged links between Lovely and the BJP. It was the second time that Lovely had stepped down as the Delhi Congress president.
Lovely’s resignation came a day after more than a thousand members of the Sikh community, including office-bearers of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee, joined the BJP in the presence of its national president J P Nadda.
Jatin Anand is an Assistant Editor with the national political bureau of The Indian Express. With over 16 years of experience in mainstream journalism, he is a seasoned expert in national governance, electoral politics, and bureaucratic affairs. Having covered high-stakes beats including the Election Commission of India (ECI), intelligence, and urban development, Jatin provides authoritative analysis of the forces shaping Indian democracy. He is an alumnus of Zakir Husain Delhi College (DU) and the prestigious Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai, where he specialized in Print Journalism.
Expertise
High-Stakes Beat Coverage: Throughout his decade-and-a-half career, Jatin has covered some of the most sensitive and influential beats in the country, including:
The Election Commission of India (ECI): Monitoring electoral policy, reforms, and the conduct of national and state polls.
National Security & Intelligence: Reporting on the internal mechanisms and developments within India's security apparatus.
Urban Development: Analyzing the policies and bureaucratic processes driving the transformation of India’s cities.
National Political Bureau: In his current role, he tracks the intersection of policy and politics, offering deep-dive reporting on the Union government and national political movements.
Academic Credentials:
Zakir Husain Delhi College (DU): Alumnus of one of Delhi's premier institutions.
Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai: Specialized in Print Journalism at India's most prestigious journalism school. ... Read More
